Wimbledon, Day 9: Federer Upset By Berdych; Murray, Nadal Will Meet In Semifinal

After a slow, somewhat passive start, No.4 Andy Murray has kept British hopes alive with a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 6-2 over No. 6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Centre Court, finishing up the Gentlemen’s Singles quarterfinals with an eventually convincing win.

This match completely swung in the second set tiebreak, with Tsonga making an enormous mistake by letting an easy Murray ball go past him, where it landed on the baseline. Murray morphed into his ridiculously fired up self from then on, and Tsonga never recovered.

No. 2 Rafael Nadal rallied for a convincing 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-1 over No. 6 Robin Soderling, patiently neutralizing the Swede’s superior power with tremendous depth and point construction.

A Soderling injury timeout followed by an immediate break of Nadal’s serve seemed to swing the momentum late in the third set, but Nadal convincingly won the ensuing tiebreak and ran away with the fourth.

Federer is still defending champion points at Cincinnati, finalist points at the US Open, and champion points at the Australian. Any poor performance at one of those tournaments could see him drop to No. 4 or even No. 5, depending on how No. 4 Andy Murray and No. 6 Robin Soderling perform in the rest of this tournament and beyond.

No. 2 Rafael Nadal made quick recovery from dropping the first set against No. 6 Robin Soderling, breaking Soderling in his first service game, racing out to a 3-0 lead and holding on for a 6-3 second set win.

Nadal’s balls are landing much deeper in the court than they were in the first set, not allowing Soderling to come over the ball and pound his forehand for winners nearly as easily.

No. 6 Robin Soderling is off to a fast start against No. 2 Rafael Nadal, getting an early break and holding on for a quick 6-3 win of the first set.

Soderling’s huge power off the ground is producing winners before Nadal even sinks his teeth into the point.

No. 12 Tomas Berdych survived a huge test in the final game of the match, but hung on to hold serve and close out the biggest win of his career, a four-set upset of No. 1 Roger Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon, by the score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

The final game didn’t start promisingly for Berdych. Federer quickly went up 15-30 with a perfect backhand passing shot up the line.

No. 12 Tomas Berdych added a second break in the sixth game to help close out a rout in the third set against defending champion No. 1 Roger Federer, winning the third set 6-1 to put himself a set from his first Wimbledon semifinal appearance.

Federer appeared to be getting more and more frustrated as the set went on, throwing his arms up in disgust after several Berdych winners.

For the second straight set, the first break of the frame was earned in the set’s second game.

But whereas No. 1 Roger Federer got off to the early break in the second, it is No. 12 Tomas Berdych who has struck first in the third. Berdych broke Federer’s serve at 30 and then quickly consolidating the break for a 3-0 lead.

No. 1 Roger Federer has leveled his quarterfinal match with No. 12 Tomas Berdych, taking the second set 6-3 to make this a best-of-three affair.

Federer made far more inroads into Berdych service games in the second set, breaking in Berdych’s first service game and having additional break (and set) poins at 2-5, as well.

Two-time defending champions Venus and Serena Williams have suffered their first defeat in grand slam doubles play in over a year, losing to the unseeded Russian pair of Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The match provided a likely preview of the Ladies’ Singles final, with both Serena and Zvonareva heavily favored to win their semifinals tomorrow against Petra Kvitova and Tsvetana Pironkova, respectively.

No. 12 Tomas Berdych has struck first in his quarterfinal against No. 1 Roger Federer, breaking in the seventh game of the set to go up a set on Centre Court.

Berdych has been consistently beating Federer with his strong forehand, especially taking advantage of Federer’s second serve.

After the surprises of Tuesday’s Ladies’ Singles quarterfinals, the eight remaining men take over on Day 9. None of these matches could produce a result anywhere near as shocking as Pironkova beating Venus was, but there’s still plenty of room for surprises.

No. 1 Roger Federer (SUI) vs No. 12 Tomas Berdych (CZE) -- Tomas Berdych finally seems to be living up to his potential. He made the final of Miami in March, beating three top ten players in the process. The first of the top ten players he was ousted was Roger Federer, who he also beat at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Berdych made the final four of a grand slam for the first time in his career earlier this month, eventually losing in five sets to Robin Soderling in the French Open semifinals. Berdych should be able to beat Federer in baseline rallies, and if he serves well he should be able to make things incredibly difficult on Federer. The only question is finishing ability, which Federer has in spades and is considerably more suspect for Berdych. If Berdych is going to win this match, it’s going to have to be over in three or four. But I don’t think it will be. Prediction: Federer in 5.

(For more on Tomas Berdych, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of his interview with SB Nation’s tennis blog, The Daily Forehand)

No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs No. 4 Andy Murray (GBR) -- Puncher vs. counter-puncher battles are always interesting, and but should favor the puncher on the fast grass courts. Therefore, if both play their best tennis, Tsonga should win this one. His weapons are simply bigger. But even though his game is more suited for it, Tsonga might not have the comfort level on grass that Murray has developed. This is Murray’s third Wimbledon quarterfinal, and Tsonga’s first. Add the partisan crowd to the mix, and I give Murray the edge. Prediction: Murray in 4.

No. 3 Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) -- These two could be considered the two with the worst chances to win this title, and therefore are pretty lucky to be playing each other. What allowed Lu to beat Roddick was Roddick’s atrocious returning, which shouldn’t be as much of an issue for Djokovic. What will be an issue for Djokovic, however, is his largely suspect health and conditioning. Lu will make Djokovic run, and if the heat gets to him he could be in trouble. But temperatures aren’t even going to be in the 80s on Wednesday in London, so Djokovic should be in good shape to make as surprising a semifinal run as a No. 3 seed ever has. Prediction: Djokovic in 3.